Paul Lynch

Plans for a Hindu temple in Northampton first mooted in 2008 are still very much alive according to a team of fundraisers as they launch a week of activities to whip up interest in the scheme.

The Indian Hindu Welfare Association (IHWO) were given planning permission to build a new temple on land off Lings Way in Lumbertubs in 2012, after the proposals were first reported four years earlier.

The new facility, which would be known as the Northampton Kutumb Centre and would cost around £12 million, will also provide room for sports, leisure, and educational activities.

Though talk of the plans appeared to have gone quiet since an open meeting in January 2014 - momentum is gathering again behind the scheme.

Architects’ designs were shown to the public at Northampton College in January and today will see a parade through Wellingborough town centre to kick off a week of activities at Highfield Leisure Centre - and awareness of the temple in Lings.

Organiser of the seven-day event, Rashmi Raikundalia, said: “We want to inspire people about religion, about this project.

“We want to have a local place for prayers and local functions.”

Every day for a week between 3pm and 6pm there will be “prayers, music, food and dancing,” Mrs Raikundalia says. The activities will take place at the Highfield Leisure Centre and anyone is welcome to attend.

The temple element of the plans is estimated to cost around £2.5 million and would need to be funded through the community. The community centre and a proposal for 65 affordable homes on the land at Lings have also been approved, but funding is in the process of being sought from various bodies.

Chair of the IHWO Northampton Neelam Aggarwal-Singh MBE said though it is an ambitious project “it will be achieved.”

“It is very much doable, she said.

“We have a big list of Hindus nationally and internationally who would be willing to donate, we are doing presentations to big donors.”